Front Office and Ballpark Staff

John E. Wuerfel

John Wuerfel is the head of both the Traverse City Beach Bums, LLC and Wuerfel Sports Development; family owned and operated businesses. He has 28 years of experience in the hospitality & service industry. With a career that spanned from 1970 through 1998, Wuerfel succeeded in the past with Wuerfel Resorts, building and developing two of the finest hotels in the Traverse City area; The Grand Beach Resort Hotel and the Sugar Beach Resort Hotel. He serves as the Managing Member and Chief Operating Officer of both companies. He is very hands on and can be found daily at Wuerfel Park wearing one of his many hats.

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Leslye A. Wuerfel

Leslye Wuerfel is the number two person for the Traverse City Beach Bums (professional baseball club) and sister company Wuerfel Sports Development (real estate management company), both family owned and operated LLCs. Along with her husband John and son Jason, they have gladly taken on the task of turning the dream of a professional baseball team in Traverse City into reality. She currently serves the both companies as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and moved back into the General Manager position in 2012.

When not working at the ballpark, Leslye enjoys spending time with her family which consists of three grown sons, two beautiful daughter-in-laws and five grandchildren. Reading, traveling, spending time John and her special animals quickly fill up free time outside of baseball. Courville Imaging photo

Jason Wuerfel

Jason Wuerfel enters his eighth season as the Vice President of the Beach Bums and his sixth as the Director of Baseball Operations. He is in charge of player procurement.

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Josh Wuerfel

Josh enters his eighth season with the Beach Bums. He is the involved in many facets of the organization --from and including IT, merchandise and program design during the off-season. He oversees all of the Beach Bums audio and video technology during the season.

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Tom Goethel III

Tom joined the Beach Bums staff in 2009 bringing his experience in the field of hospitality as he has spent his entire working life in this industry. He thrives on the challenges that come up every day in this industry and takes on these challenges at full speed making sure that when the day is done not only is every customer leaving with a smile but so is his entire staff. Since the 2009 season Tom has been on a quest to become the best hot dog cooker in the Midwest. You may catch a glimpse of Tom in the ballpark as he does his “rounds” throughout the entire concessions area making sure that everyone’s needs are met and that all is running as smoothly as possible. In his down time Tom enjoys spending his off time helping his wife Brooke wrangle and raise their four kids (Paige, Douglas, Izabella, Sophia).

Tonya Wuerfel

Tonya Wuerfel joined the Beach Bums in 2012 as the Director of Promotions & Community Events as well as program designer in the off-season. She is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a B.S. in Biology. She was memeber of the GVSU Rowing Club and TriBeta National Biological Honor Society. She is married to Joshua Wuerfel and the mother of Alexandra, Cameron, Quinn and Anastasia.

Jacob Greenhoe

Born in Crystal, MI and a graduate of Lansing Community College, Greenhoe enters his fourth year in sports and third in Minor League baseball. Jacob started his career in sports as a box office rep with the Lansing Lugnuts then moved to the Michiana Fight League where he helped with sponsorships. In 2012, he decided to return to baseball and moved to Georgia where he worked as Box Office Coordinator with the Augusta GreenJackets. Jacob is very excited to share his unique experiences and ideas as he joins the Beach Bums organization.

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Chad Cooper

Veteran broadcaster Chad Cooper returns for his fourth year in Northern Michigan. A 2003 graduate of Temple University, 2013 will be Cooper's 8th season in the Frontier League and his 11th broadcasting minor league baseball overall. The winner of the 2005 Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year Award, Cooper has worked as high as the Advanced-A level for the Vero Beach Devil Rays and made regular appearances on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays pre-game show in 2007. In the baseball offseason, Cooper makes his home in Albany, NY calling games for the men's and women's basketball teams as well as for the 2011 Division II National Champion women's soccer team at The College of Saint Rose. 2013 also saw Cooper be selected to be one of four broadcasters selected to call the NCAA Division II East Regional Women's Basketball Championships, his third such selection to the event along with 2008 and 2012. He has also been on the call for an NCAA national quarterfinal soccer match in each of the last five years.